Technical Efficiency of Soybean Farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana

This paper assesses the technical efficiency of soybean farmers in the Northern Region of Ghana. The maximum likelihood estimation technique was used for the estimations in a one-step approach through the translog production function. A sample size of 168 soybean farmers was used for the study. Farmers were selected by using systematic random sampling procedure and interviewed with questionnaires. The overall return to scale in production in the region was found to be 0.79. This is a decreasing returns to scale and means that a percentage increase in variable inputs leads to a less than percentage (proportionate) increase in the overall output of soybean.